Curious George Aboard the Starship Enterprise
by pinum314
Summary: The Enterprise brings aboard an unusual passenger, in the form of the 20th century monkey, Curious George from Margaret and HA Ray's children's books.


_Captain's Log, Stardate 4223.1: _ Currently we are on a routine star charting mission of the Zeta Böötis region after our recent encounter with the Klingons on Neural. We do not foresee encountering any other intelligent life in this region, though there is one small planet orbiting the star M51 ahead of us.

As the captain walks onto the bridge, Spock looks over: "There is an unusual life form on the planet ahead. It appears to be approximately 0.98 m tall and humanoid."

"Thank you, Spock, please continue monitoring it."

"Very well, Captain"

As the Enterprise approaches the star nothing happened.

"Hailing the life form on all frequencies, no response," stated Uhura.

"Try again – it could be disabled or in danger," announced the Captain.

"Still no response"

"All right. Spock come with me, call Dr. McCoy too. We're going down there to see what's going on."

The three men enter the transporter room and climb onto the pad. After stating, "Ready" and waiting a brief moment, they vanish, reappearing on the surface below.

The men look around cautiously, and see nothing particularly dangerous looking. They proceed out of the clearing, and enter the thick green forest.

"Jim, what's that?" announces the doctor, pointing at an unusually bright yellow pyramid shaped object nestled behind a bush.

"It appears to be a hat from 20th century earth, though unusually brightly colored," responds Spock.

Just then the hat begins to move, jumping to slightly to the left, then to the right, then to the right again, and back to the left.

"Phasors on stun!" shouts the Captain. All three stand, waiting for the hat-object to move again. Nothing happens for several minutes. As they wait, the hat begins to tip over slowly, revealing a small, brown creature looking strangely like both a monkey and a child. It boldly steps toward them, without appearing to be armed. The three men examine the creature, noticing a string tied around its neck with a pouch.

"Captain, while this creature seems to be harmless I would recommend caution. It would be a good idea to investigate the tag around its neck. Perhaps it will lead to more information as to its origins."

The doctor prepares a hypospray and injects the surprisingly docile creature, which instantly falls asleep. They remove the pouch and find inside a piece of paper, with the following statement.

_This is George. George is a good little monkey, but always very curious. I cannot survive in this forest due to the lack of appropriate shelter, but it is similar to George's habitat back in Africa. I am uncertain as to how we arrived here, it occurred after we joined the NASA mission to determine the effects of space travel on families and we seem to have been separated from the other families on board. I hope that if anyone finds this they take good care of George._

_Signed, The Man in the Yellow Hat_

"What is it, Spock?" asks the Captain.

"This entire situation fits in very well with a mid 20th century series of children's books by the name of "Curious George" written by Margaret and Hans Augusto Ray. The married pair of authors wrote a total of seven books prior to the death of Hans Augusto Ray in 1977. The books featured a monkey, referred to as either George or Curious George, along with his friend and caretaker, the Man in the Yellow Hat. However, they were believed to be works of fiction, and nothing more."

"Very interesting, Spock, but I believe we should transport the specimen back to the Enterprise for further investigation," said Kirk opening his communicator.

"Captain, regardless of the fact that the stories are believed to be fictional, I must advise you to be careful. We must be cautious about bringing this life form aboard the Enterprise – it is known for getting itself into troublesome situations and causing a myriad of problems."

"That's ridiculous, he's just a little monkey – what harm could he be to anyone?" protests the doctor.

"Kirk to Enterprise. Four to beam up." The three men and one small monkey vanished in sparkling light, reappearing moments later on the transporter pad of the Enterprise, with the monkey still sedated.

* * *

George lay in an unfamiliar location, filled with bright lights. He wasn't sure where he was, but he didn't think this was the jungle anymore. He was on a long, thin bed with white sheets and there was a screen above his head with lots of flashing lights. He sat up and looked around. There was no one there. He was curious about what this place was, and began pressing buttons. He pressed one button, and all of a sudden a woman walked into the room.

"Oh, the little animal is awake now," said the nurse, "Wait here a moment, and I'll go get the doctor."

George waited. These people were peculiar – they didn't have hats, and most of them weren't wearing yellow. He looked around the room, and saw an old man in a blue shirt walk in, and approach him with a shiny object. As he watched, the man injected him with it. He leapt back. That hurt! George ran under the bed.

The man followed him and picked him up. He moved another shiny object over George, reassuring him that it was just a tricorder, nothing to worry about. George reached out and touched it – it lit up in his hand. It was fun – he would have to get one to play with.

The man left again.

"McCoy to Captain Kirk, our patient has awoken and seems alert and healthy – and very interested in destroying our instruments."

"Keep him calm for another few hours, and I'll come down and see what should be done with him. Kirk out."

Three hours later the captain and first officer walked into the sickbay to see the specimen. They walked into the room where he was being kept, and saw one small monkey and one large mess.

"What happened?" announced the captain.

"Well, that specimen of yours seems to have a lot of energy, and he kept pulling everything out of the drawers, cupboards, and anywhere else he could get into," responded the doctor.

"Doctor, I must remind you that the animal is called 'Curious George' due to its curiosity and propensity to get itself involved in trouble. It would be wise to keep it under very close watch, so as to avoid further problems. I would advise that you currently bring it to the mess hall and feed it. It is undoubtedly hungry, and will likely behave better if not searching for food," said Spock.

"All right, we'll bring it to eat," said the doctor, "Come out here you little rascal. It's time to eat. Food. You must be hungry."

George ran in the opposite direction – what a fun game this was, they'd never catch him.

"Doctor, if its name is George, perhaps you should address it as such. It may respond better in that situation."

"You crazy hobgoblin – do it yourself if you know so much about it."

"Very well. George, it is time to eat. Present yourself immediately."

George crept out from underneath the bed, upon hearing his name and the word "eat". He was hungry, and nothing here tasted very good. He followed the man with pointy ears out of the room, into a larger room, filled with many machines. He looked around – machines and lights were everywhere.

* * *

George followed the men to the area they referred to as the mess hall. He _was_ hungry and was glad that it was time to eat, but didn't see any food. He watched as the man in the blue shirt walked up to the wall and inserted a card. Then the man reached into a hole in the wall and pulled out a tray full of food. That looked like fun – George wanted to try!

George put his hand out and shoved it into the hole. Nothing happened. He took his hand out. How was he going to get food if the hole didn't give him any?

"George, please sit at this table. I have obtained a meal for you. You may eat it," stated the man with pointy ears.

George was hungry, so he picked up the banana and began to eat it. As he ate, the other two men began to eat as well. Soon a third man – the other one he recognized from the planet – sat down to eat with them. After several minutes, George began to feel full, and stopped eating. He looked around the big room at all the people and wondered what fun he could have.

As the three men ate, they failed to notice the small monkey wandering away from the table. George was quiet and ducked underneath the tables – he wanted to get back to the machines that dispensed food. He saw a piece of plastic that looked like the one that the man in the blue shirt had used, and picked it up. He put it into the hole on the machine and pressed the button. Some food came out, and the machine made lots of noises. This was fun! He pressed the button several more times, and then ran under a nearby table to watch what happened.

As George watched, the machine began to dispense large quantities of food. He didn't know what was going on. A man in a red shirt walked over to the machine, and was knocked over by the large amounts of food being dispensed. All of a sudden the man in the yellow shirt came over and started yelling. George hid under the table – was he the cause of this mess? Also, why did they care about the mess – they had said that this was a mess hall?


End file.
